The present invention relates to a wire-processing device with processing stations for processing a wire and a method of operating such a wire-processing device, at least one gripper feeding the wire to the processing stations for the production of a wire-end connector and being usable for inspection of the wire-end connector produced by the processing stations.
Known devices for inspecting a crimped connector consist of a holding device to hold the crimped connector and of a pulling device to apply to the wire crimp a force acting along the longitudinal axis of the wire. The insulation crimp can be manually removed before the crimping operation so that the pull-out force for the wire crimp is not distorted. With the insulation crimp, the pull-out force for the conductor crimp is increased by two to five percent. The inspection device can be operable either manually or by means of a motor, the pulling force that is measured by force sensors being displayed. Should the crimped connector either partially or completely fail to withstand a predefined pull-out force, the wire is rejected by hand.
European patent document EP 1 515 403 A2 shows a wire-processing machine in which a belt-drive feeds a wire to a first swivel-arm with a first gripper. To feed the leading wire-end to processing stations, the first swivel-arm is set in a swiveling motion and/or in a linear motion. To feed the trailing wire-end to processing stations, a second swivel-arm is set in a swiveling motion and/or in a linear motion. A holding device serves to inspect the wire-end connector or crimped connector that is produced in the automated wire-processing process, the linear motion of the gripper also being used for the automated inspection of the wire-end connector.
A disadvantage of this known device is that the gripper closing force for wires with medium-sized and large cross sections is not sufficient for the pull-out force measurement. During the pull-out movement executed by the gripper, the gripper cannot hold or grip the wire sufficiently. Should the wire slip in the gripper, the desired pull-out force cannot be attained. A substantially more strongly built gripper would be able to meet these requirements, but at the cost of the gripper dimensions and at the cost of the gripper mass needing to be moved and the associated larger drive.